Wednesday 31 December 2008

Thanks...

it's 2009!

It's a whole new year.

correction.

It's a whole new scary collective of 365 days ahead.

I must say, with the current unstable economic situation, a whole new surrounding that I'll be diving into, and a whole new environment for the others in my cohort, I'm guessing 2009 is a year that many are uncertain of. That can be scary, but let us remember that GOD holds the future, HE is always in control and HE has a plan for everyone and everything. Hence, we can always trust in HIM in whatever situation.

Aside from that, I think I should take this opportunity to really reflect on the past year and give thanks to all who have made a difference in 2008.

Ms Seah,
for her continuous support in this crucial academic year.

Ms Gan,
for being a source of moral support for me, and for the really great birthday gift. I really like the CD.

Ms Lee Bin Choo,
for always pointing us in the right direction.

Mrs Julia Huang,
just for being a teacher who has so much faith and trust in me.

Mr Albert Tay, Ms Jennifer Tham, and Ms Gan,
for the fun music-making process during the choir trip and the early part of the year.

Andre,
for being a fun person to fellowship with.

Kevin Chiam,
for helping me with my Combined Humanities.

Chem Yeo,
for helping me improve in my Chemistry, especially through the extra lessons.

Zexun,
for being an awesome panda photographer [jk. I meant "photographer".], for inviting me back to church, and for the birthday present that I needed so badly, along with Ernest, Nigel Lee, Jack, Secret Friend [I still haven't figured out who you are]

Ernest,
for being the hilarious toot that kept my sanity and sense of humour in one piece throughout the year, especially while doing the Art Coursework.

Jack, Jasper, John, Kevin, Ms Chua, Veknesh, Seno, Syed, and the other Art guys,
for the help and entertainment while doing the Art coursework.

Raymond,
for being a really awesome conversation buddy and friend to go out or home with.

Ben See, Luke, Reuben, Barnabus, Jonathan Poh, Jeremy Tan,
for being amusing juniors in choir.

Jerome Tan,
for being a great roomie during the Choir trip, as well as a great Choir VP.

Shaun Chui,
for helping Jerome & I learn the music for the Bratislava Trip, even though he himself is not going. All the best for '09, with SYF, O Level and everything else.

The '08-'09 Choir Exco,
for their effort in the choir.

Melvin Sim, Ee Rong, Ee Wei, Junior, Timothy, and any other PA guy(s) I may have missed out,
for biting "bullets" for me by taking up major projects (or a significant part of them) throughout 2008, such as the musical, Founder's Day, etc.

Aaron Chua, Jonathan Phang,
for being great classmates plus brothers in Christ.

Marcus Giam,
for being a great brother in Bass, and in Christ.

Isaac Wong,
for being a hilarious conversation buddy and always-supportive friend.

Ryan Lee,
for your awesome taste in music.

Mrs Jennifer Yew,
for keeping the 2A Full Value Contract after all these years. Never thought it would still be with you.

Matthew Ho, Jedidiah Chia, Eugene Low, Theodore Koh,
for helping me learn the guitar

Everyone who went on the Bratislava trip,
for the joy, frustration, and everything else that we went through.

There's so many more "Thanks" in '08 that I missed out, but these people have really made an impact in my life in '08, and some even lasting way beyond just '08.

So, Thank you for making a difference.

This post was composed from 31DEC08 11.30pm, till 1JAN09 1:06am.

This is the last of 3 pre-composed blog entries between 29DEC08 and 1JAN09.

New Year's Resolution '09

For the year 2009, I still do not know what is ahead. But praise the LORD, HE is in control of whatever will come my way. So, with that in mind, I shall come up with my hopes for 2009.

  1. I will get into Bellerby's College [UK]
  2. I will keep my mass under 75kg.
  3. I will grow to above 1.80m by the end of '09.
  4. I will not go into overdraft when I am in the UK.
  5. I will keep in contact with my Singapore friends.
  6. I will meet Indonesians in the UK.
  7. I will cook at least once, be it in Indonesia before I leave, or in UK.
  8. I will post minimum 100 posts in 2009. A low target for a busy year ahead.
  9. I will stop buying physical albums [i.e.: Music CDs] by the last quarter of 2009 [Oct-Dec]. I will, instead, buy online.
  10. I will grow stronger in the LORD, and while I'm at this,
  11. I will find a church in the UK, and go to it regularly.
  12. I will get a new MacBook in 2009.
  13. I will drive with a license in 2009.
  14. I will vote in the 2009 Indonesian Presidential. SBY or Megawati? that's the question at the moment.
  15. I will watch a performance of a choir in 2009.
  16. I will watch min. 3 movies in the theaters / cinema in 2009.
  17. I will still take photos in the UK, but for artsy and casual reasons only.
  18. I will sit on the Airbus A380 for the first time in 09.
  19. I will not be in Singapore for more than 100 hours in 2009.
  20. I will take up music lessons. Specifically, piano.
  21. I will run a half-marathon in 2009. [i.e.: 21km. Not competitive, though]
  22. I will run in a running event in 2009, even if it's the London Marathon or Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon. Hey, if people from Africa fly all the way to run in Singapore, why not me? Hopefully, I'll be having my holidays by then.
  23. I will grow more muscles in my arms and the six-pack region. a four-pack would be nice, over the one bulge I have now.

There. 23 resolutions. 12 needed to really pass. 09's gonna be exciting!

Composed on 29DEC08, 11:22:32pm GMT+0700

home-sick.

yeah, you thought I was referring to the time when I was in Singapore when I chose this title, eh?

I'm kind-of sick of my home in Indonesia after the short few days that I've been here. Kind-of.

Sure, my parents are with me. So are my brothers, nephews, relatives and all.

But I realised that just because I'm younger than my brothers, just because I'm a teenager, my family doesn't really regard any of my opinions, whatever I say, yadee-yadaa. I feel as if this home is just a shelter before I get to my next phase in life - in the UK, alone.

Call me an a.s.s. [anti-social soul], but I really have no-one else to relate to here other than my family, when I am in Indonesia. And they don't give a sh*t about me, nor do they regard me as an actual person.

Then again, I'm not so surprised. My family's somewhat blinded in their own reality-distortion field. Here's an example. They're really racist. My whole family will always despise against the "huanas", aka the darker-skinned Indonesians. They also have something against the "Cina-Benteng", which is supposed to mean a Chinese-skinned person from Benteng. Something like that. Personally, I feel that they keep criticising these groups of people as if they're dogs. I'm really disapproving of this, but what can I do? My parents barely listen to me.

My mom's been giving me problems as well. She thinks I am short [which, she has a point. I'm only 1.76m, and I'm not very tall for my age], and so, she's been gouging food down my throat by always adding / ordering more than I can handle. Feels kind-of like a foei gras. The problem with her is that she doesn't know when is too much. I have breathing difficulty while sleeping almost nightly since I came back, and it's not due to the air here.

Perhaps I became too detached from my family, but if there's anything I learnt about my family after seeing them from a third-person's perspective, it's this:

When people get too rich, they become so full of themselves, they feel like they're the boss.

My word of wisdom to anyone out there: However successful you become in future, remember to always humble yourself.

This saved entry was typed on 29DEC08, 10:52:10pm GMT+0700

Happy 2009!

I'm sorry I've not been posting recently. My internet connection has not been very good, causing problems with uploading posts.

I've composed a few blog posts in the meantime, and recorded the time I typed my posts. So, I shall NOT fake the posting time, but rather post them after this post you're reading now, in chronological order. Hope you'll enjoy them.

Alright, gotta start posting before the connection gets flaky again. Keep on reading!

Once again, happy 2009.

Sunday 28 December 2008

New Year's Resolution 2008 REVIEW


  • I shall get 5 A1s for my O Level [not over yet]
  • I shall do badly for CA1, especially for Chemistry. [1 wrong]
  • I shall make more enemies than I have now in school. [yup]
  • I shall NOT make new friends in 2008. [wrong]
  • I shall join minimum 2 study groups gatherings in 2008 [The Tripartite Humanities study group and S.O.S. = yup]
  • I shall try to apply to go somewhere outside Singapore for my post-OLVL studies [trying, so yup]
  • I shall go to 4 different countries in 2008, even though it's my OLVL year [Singapore, Indonesia, China, Slovakia, Hungary]
  • I shall CONTINUE to blog during my OLVL study period! [doing so now]
  • I shall watch 2 NC-16 movies next year.[Only Juno. So 0.5]
  • I shall ace English Oral. [yup]
  • I shall survive choir performances. [morning assembly, Musical, etc.] [yup, except musical, but that was an exemption.]
  • I will make sure the other PA guys respect Melvin. [hmm...]. if that plan backfires, I willmake sure somebody else takes over. [hmm...]
  • I guess BenSee is getting pissed with me. That's gonna need a fix. [fixed, since he wasn't pissed]
  • For the first time in 10 years, I will go back to Indonesa to celebrate Chinese New Year with the family. [I did!]
  • I will eat a total of 3 pints of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream throughtout 2008.[2pint + 1 cone +1 cup + 1pint = 3.5 pints]
  • I shall get my blog on the "Blog of Note" list! [not likely.]
  • and my photo [1 of] will be marked as an "Explore" Picture [even less likely]
  • I'm no longer buying anymore iPods. Nor iPhones. [heh]
  • I may buy a gaming console. think PSP... [nope]
  • I may get a Blu-Ray player to call my own... [no]
  • I shall make around300 250 posts in 08[exceeded 300, anyway.]
  • I will change the blog skin 3 times. [3 of 3]
  • I will not get the things I put on the wishlist [no. no. no. no. no. no. anymore 'no'?]
  • I will leave Singapore for the UK or US or AU by 2009. [yep]

  • min.13/24! a projected pass!

    MacBook Pro

    In March, I made a list of things I want in my new MacBook / MacBook Pro. Let's review that list as we enter a new year.

    1. BD-RE Drive. Not Yet.

    2. New Design / Chassis. Yup.

    3. 4 USB 2.0 Ports. Not getting it, But I don't need it, so this is removed.

    4. Wireless USB. Nah. It's not really necessary anyway.

    5. Lower Heat: much better.

    6. Comparative Speed improvement of 450% over the 2.16GHz Core Duo that I'm using, and 500% over my underclocked ATI Mobility Radeon X1600. [by Moore's Law, this should occur by 2009] I asked for too much. Core i7 and Nvidia 9400m would be enough.

    7. Battery life rating of 5.5hrs Close enough.

    8. eSATA slot. It's faster for External HDDs to connect over eSATA than USB or FireWire.

    9. new keyboard: more like the MacBook, MacBook air, and the wired / wireless keyboards: more spaces between keys! YES!

    10. larger trackpad, smaller [Much larger] left-click button. YES!

    11. Touchscreen. 

    12. DDR3 RAM support, and hopefully a cap increase up to 8GB of RAM.

    13. OS X 10.6 Lynx Snow Leopard. Not Yet.

    14. iLife '09 Not Yet.

    15. 500GB 5400rpm HDD. Not Yet.

    16. upgraded speakers. Not needed anymore.

    17. REDUCED: Thickness of the dream MacBook Pros: flat 2cm or 0.78". That's "MacBook Air-ish". Nah. .95" is good enough.

    18. 1920x1080 native resolution screen. It's currently 1440x900. what's another 480x180? Not needed.

    19. Hookless magnetic latch. I think mine's damaged. YUP!

    20. an upgraded iSight camera. Not important, ...

    Ok, so, what's lacking:

    Blu-ray
    8GB RAM
    iLife '09
    OS X 10.6
    500GB.

    Apple, or maybe Schiller and Ive, I hope you guys are (still) listening.

    Sent from Mail.app in OS X 10.5.

    Saturday 27 December 2008

    waiting...

    ...on the world to change...

    ...on the new path in life...

    ...on the keystone to my next part in life...

    ...for the announcement of the O Level results release date...

    ...for the embargo on the date of the release of O Level results to be lifted...

    Oh, check out the links. I added a few links to my cell group & ex-cell group friends' blogs. enjoy reading!

    Friday 26 December 2008

    Random shootout.

    Just had to clear the trash bin in my brain by off-loading it onto my Blog. Kinda like placing the burnt refuse onto Semakau.

    Bromides are bad for you. They soothe you, creating the illusion of having a problem solved. In actual fact, the problem is still there, not being dealt with. They're like marijuana. So don't you dare blanket any problems you have with bromidic ideas or statements.

    If you thought of Chemistry when you saw the word in bold, I suggest you look through the dictionary. You'll add on to your English talcum powder bottle.

    daronfiles| helping to keep people's English powder-full.

    Thursday 25 December 2008

    900th post and more!

    Ok, this post is not my 900th post. It's my 902nd. But just so you
    know, I just passed the 900mark.

    Aside from that, I have reached 19,500 views on my blog! 250+views in
    5 days. No idea how. (I have Internet connection problems, remember?)

    Also, I'm 18 hits shy of the 4000 hits target for my flickr. I'll try
    to post stuff when the telcos and ISP allow.

    Sent from my iPhone via Mail.

    Tagboard reply!

    Something I've not done in a while...

    eerong: omg, i tried blogging on iphone but nothing came out... how did you do ittttt.... x)
    my reply: On the page where you create a new post in Safari, tap on "Edit HTML", rather than "Compose". Now you can type your text. You can't do formating unless you code in yourself, but it's better than nothing.

    Andre: hey man.. i'm missing you too badly.. glad you're doing great man..
    my reply: Thanks Andre! And Merry Christmas!

    Zexun: Hahah, shameless advertisement! Keep uploading stuff to your flickr for ppl to look then
    my reply: Wish I could. The internet connection here is unstable. It's gonna be hard for me to upload stuff. Will try, though.

    Oh, on an update, seems like I may not be going to Australia, but instead, either UK or US. We'll see how tomorrow, when I consult the education agent.

    Merry Christmas!

    I don't have anything much to say, except Merry Christmas!

    Yeah, if you were wondering why this message came so late, it's because the HSDPA service has been inaccessible the entire morning. But hey! Better late than never!

    Monday 22 December 2008

    What a week!

    It has been an amazing week, if I could say so myself.

    Let's see... I watched Transporter 3 and The Day The Earth Stood Still. Both are great movies, by the way. Watch if you can.

    And speaking of movies, I just watched Transformers on HBO (yeah. We have HBO, even though we don't have BBC or CNN. Fascinating. ). I kinda regret being critical of the movie. It's good. I approve.

    Besides movies, my family hosted a Christmas party cum gift exchange, where my mom's jogging friends (our neighbours) and our extended family came together to celebrate Christmas. Fun, food, fellowship.

    Oh, on a "personal achievements" note, I drove a car. Manual/Shift stick, not Automatic. Well, I signed up for driving lessons. Today was day one. 5 more lessons to go.

    One tip I'll give to any prospective drivers: push the clutch down ALL THE WAY. As in really. ALL THE WAY. I stalled the car once. Hey 1st (actual driving) time. The previous attempt with my sis-in-law doesn't count.

    By the way, I'm getting my license and Indonesian I/C next year, after my birthday. Woot!

    K. Bye. My iPhone is quite moist from my palm sweat. Not sweet at all.

    Blogged on an iPhone.

    P.s. Can somebody email me when the O Level results day is announced? And if you want to contact me for whatever reason, use my Gmail. My iPhone is On a local telco. I.e.: not using a SingTel SIM card. I check my email nightly. So, yeah.

    Saturday 20 December 2008

    What I think would be nice for the next few months...

    Ok, I need your help.

    At the moment, my blog has 19,246 views.
    And meanwhile, my Flickr page has 3,969 views.

    Ok. This is so cheap of me... But heck, it's my little space.

    I would like you to visit my flickr page and blog regularly...

    Such that by 1 Jan 2009,
    my Flickr page views has bumped up by 31 views to 4,000.

    And as for my blog, I'm not going to be unreasonable.
    By my 17th Birthday, let's make it 19,500.
    And by June of 09, hopefully, we can hit 20,000!

    So spread my links!

    Thanks in advance!

    P.s.: if you haven't done so, Go check out Aaron Chua's blog. The latest post is pretty interesting.

    Finally...

    After hunting...

    roaming...

    scanning...

    through several hotspots...

    I've found...




    A pint of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream!
    [You have no idea how hard it is to find this stuff over here now, with the recession and everything.]

    Wednesday 17 December 2008

    heh. so much for stability

    ok. i'm going on blogging hiatus. I don't have enough bandwidth allowance to blog. Kinda nearing [or maybe exceeding already] the cap.

    Really sorry.

    Give me time. I'll try to blog from my eldest bro's house.

    Darn HSDPA. The signal is so unstable, my 2nd bro's phone keeps returning to 3G.

    As a comparison:

    3G [WCDMA] = 368KBps
    3.5G [HSDPA] - 3.6MBps = 10x improvement.

    Tuesday 16 December 2008

    finally! internet!

    Phew. Thought I won't be able to update my blog.

    Ok, I'm in Indonesia now. In the new house. Pretty big, but pretty empty. Heh.

    There's no proper Cable TV connection here. Only some weird cheap-o cable with no MTV, CNN, BBC. At least we get CNA, CNBC, Channel V, Bloomberg, Discovery. That's all I need [for now].

    And as for internet, I don't have Cable / ADSL. But since my bro has a Windows Mobile phone and a HSDPA data plan, I'm using his phone as a modem to get on the net. It's decent. Comparable to Wireless@SG. hey, it's a cellular network. Not too shabby, I would say.

    BTW, I have a 32" TV of my own now. It's not HD, not even HD Ready, but I'm thinking of getting something to hook up to it. Should I get:

    1. A VGA cable to hook up my Mac to it?
    2. A PS3?
    3. A PSP?
    4. An XBox 360?
    5. A Wii?
    6. A Blu-Ray Player? [NO!]
    7. An TV (Apple TV)?
    8. Others?

    Vote by tagging!

    by the way, Number 1 will be something I'm definitely doing even if it isn't voted to the top.

    Ok, I have to cut off soon. Only have 500MB limit per month, and I just downloaded OS X 10.5.6 update. That's 190MB off the allowance. Bummer.

    Saturday 13 December 2008

    as promised.

    a blog post from the airport.

    Initially, I thought of posting a happy post, but with what happened in the past 1hour or so, I'm sorry to bring you guys a pretty vulgar post. Hey, I have lots of bottled-up teenage angst over the past couple of years. Let me have my little room of anger.

    Seriously, what the f*** is wrong with my guardians?

    My auntie kept pushing me to pack faster. FASTER. FASTER! MUCH FASTER you bloody *literally. my nose has been bleeding. toot.

    As a result, I lost the lock to my luggage. And guess what? My luggage is overweight by 10.1kg. I had to pay $104 in overweight fine or whatever you bloody screwy call it, I don't give a sh*t. Anyway, I went to the ATM, drew the money, and shoved it in front of the person at the counter. Did I mention? My guardians just dropped me at the airport, and then fled. The last I saw of them was in the car. I had to settle check-in, luggage check-in, payment, and the money thing alone. Heh. No biggie. Adults suck, and ironically, I'm one myself.

    Seriously, had my auntie not been there to rush me like an ass [i.e.: donkey], I would have been ON TIME, not BLOODY EARLY, I would have more money in my bank, not $100 less, I would have been able to open my luggage with EASE, not by prying some bloody lock apart, and I probably won't be sick, since I would probably be getting PROPER food. not cakes and nyonya kuehs. Don't get me wrong. I love nyonya food, but when I have jetlag, I don't think trans-fat and cholesterol is what I need. Not yet, anyway. What the f*** is wrong with my guardian. Did some alien take over her brain? Or maybe she lost half of it while playing some retarded computer game. Seriously, for the past 8 months, that's what she spends hours a day doing.

    I'm calm. With a grumbly stomach. In the departure waiting area. No way out, nor food around.

    So now you know, I fly alone. No, I check in, lug around my luggage, and fly alone.

    What's assistance? It's for pussies.
    [seriously, cats need assistance. You can't let them fly alone. very dangerous, since they don't know where the hell do they want to go, unlike Matt Harding.]


    Going off to Jakarta.

    Today.

    Afternoon.

    GA897.

    Departs 4.40pm GMT+8

    Arrives 5.15pm GMT+7

    Sayonara.

    Thursday 11 December 2008

    Strike.

    Hey! I'm back in Singapore!

    There's a whole lot of things I should tell you guys, but I'll start with the basics.

    Firstly, not everyone is back yet. Mrs Leong got very ill on the flight from Budapest to Amsterdam, so she didn't fly with the rest of us to Singapore. Instead, she, with Mr Leong, are still in Amsterdam, staying at the airport hotel. Let's continue to pray for Mrs Leong's quick recovery and their safe return.

    Secondly, we are considered very fortunate. If you didn't know, the staff at Budapest Ferihegy Airport were on strike from 10 December 2008. Our flight from Budapest to Amsterdam was at 5:30pm, on 10 Dec 2008. Taking this flight would lead us to arrive in Amsterdam at 7:40pm, enought time to catch a 9:10pm flight from Amsterdam to Singapore. The strike led to interruptions in luggage services, catering, etc [i.e.: anything related to land support / transport]. As a result, some flights were cancelled. Fortunately, our flight was not. It was, however, delayed, to 6pm. As a result, we had to rush in Amsterdam; from getting the transfer boarding pass, to running to the gate, to passing through the customs. In the end, we made it! I really think this is a good example of how God is in control of everything, even flight plans.

    Thirdly, I'm really impressed with customs in Europe. The two customs checkpoint we had to pass through in Budapest [don't ask why 2. I also wonder] seem to have a hard time telling the validity of a visa. They held Peng Cheng and I for a good 5 minutes each. By comparison, EU passports took ≤10s, and Singapore passports took ≤1min. Trust me. The first guy was placing my visa under the UV light 4 times to check for the hologram [it was visible, obviously]. The second guy [a lady, actually] had to ask her senior official if there's anything wrong [they spoke in Hungarian to each other. I couldn't understand.]

    Anyway, Still on Customs official, I'm really impressed with the Amsterdam customs official [seriously]. They guy there saw my Indonesian Passport, and then asked me, "Apa Kabar?" which translates to "How are you?". Impressive. Not only that, he also greeted Peng Cheng in Chinese. Maybe it's to validate your passport is your origin or something, but nonetheless, I like this kind of guy. Very impressed.

    Ok, let me get my beauty sleep. zzz.

    UPDATE: Quote from Budapest Airport Website:

    Dear Passengers,


    The strike situation at Budapest Airport is still very unpredictable and no prognosis can be set for Thursday’s traffic expectations with any certainty. Budapest Airport does everything in its power to ensure the best possible services and at least a minimum level of traffic.


    Operation on Thursday, 11 December 2008 will probably be limited to Terminal 2A and 2B with passengers going through the passenger security screening at Terminal 2B.


    There will be no flights and no check-in available at terminal one, even the airlines normally using T1 will be directed to T2. Due to the constrained passenger screening capacity delays in the departure traffic should be expected.
    We kindly ask all passengers to go to Terminal 2 to catch their flight. Also, please contact your airline for further information and assistance.


    Thank you for your cooperation, patience and understanding.


    Budapest Airport



    And click here for more from Malev, the airline which KLM code-shared with for Budapest-Amsterdam flights. We took Flight MA668.

    Monday 8 December 2008

    Back from Bratislava

    I'm currently in Budapest again, after being gone to Bratislava.

    We had so much fun in Bratislava, shopping and singing. We had the privilege of singing in 2 churches, the Christmas market square in the city centre (a very hustling and bustling area with lots of great food and Christmas ornaments + toys), and. 1 competition. We clinched a bronze for the choral competition.

    Having been in Europe for the past 7days or so, I really think I'm going to miss my friends in choir when I am gone. It's been such a blessing to have such fun people on the tour

    Itinerary for next few days:
    Today (8): Visit Parliament in Budapest, and indoor hot bath.
    9: Christmas market and some town 30km away from Budapest, and River Danube cruise
    10: Checkout, depart for Singapore from Budapest via Amsterdam
    11: Arrive in Singapore
    12: return Cheng his blazer
    13: depart to Jakarta
    14 onwards: in Indonesia.

    Wednesday 3 December 2008

    In hotel...

    I'm in Budapest, Hungary right now. Blogging.

    Going to Bratislava, Slovakia tomorrow. Bye!

    P.s. I'm not sick anymore! And sadly, it's been snowless here...

    Monday 1 December 2008

    Mia Rose and Hanna Gargour

    From QueenRania's YouTube channel, a cover of a song that I like.

    Queen Rania of Jordan is the recepient of the Visionary Award on YouTube Live '08. She set up her YouTube channel to allow YouTubers to send in their stereotypes of the Arab World and let her respond to them. I admire how she uses modern technology to inform and educate people about the issue of stereotypes that is separating the West from Arabs. She may not be able to change the world, but she hopes to change people's mindsets in the process.

    Waiting on the world to change...

    Band Aid 20 - Do They Know It's Christmas Time?

    As we enter December, the Christmas season is approaching, and the Christmas songs start thawing from the storage freezer. Here's a christmas song! Anyway, I'll be offline for the next 11 days or so, so enjoy the music! Meanwhile, you could also look through my archives to read the posts that you could have missed out, so you can catch up when I start posting again. Also, check out the other links! click on 'links' on the nav bar! here's wishing you farewell! daronfiles is officially on hiatus.

    Sunday 30 November 2008

    to all the geeks out there...

    to all the geeks who are frustrated by idiots who constantly ask you questions...

    even though they can actually google that question to get their answer...

    you can sigh a heavy sigh of relief...

    as you can now SHOW the stupidity of that friend of yours...

    and teach them how to Google!


    For example, if someone wants to know "who's Ronald Liong?", and he asked YOU instead of Google, send them this link.


    breathe...

    Saturday 29 November 2008

    more photos- one saturday

    chem class, CCAs like the BB, and the band POP, which was one of the last few photography assignments that I did officially for CIP hours. Oh, wonder how's Jon Phang, speaking of BB.

    more photos - CCA Display

    Credits: Benjamin See. Mostly unglam shots of people doing normal things. Ah, the art of Ben See.

    2008 in photos - First day of School, 2 Jan 08

    Sent directly from Aperture

    Thursday 27 November 2008

    Tech predictions...

    Every year, I do a series of predictions and resolutions for the new year.

    Since I may not be online after 1 Dec 2008 [I do not know the internet connectivity arrangement in my home in Indonesia], I'll be rushing through hundreds of blog posts in the next few days...

    So let us begin with my tech industry predictions

    1. Snow Leopard will come out in the first half of 2009.
    2. Windows 7 will come out at the second half of 2009.
    3. Intel Core i7 and Atom will cause AMD to drop their efforts in CPUs. Rather, they'll shift to CPU-GPU combos and standalone-GPUs.
    4. Apple will release a netbook [or claim to have done so].
    5. Canon will release a 1D Mark IV with HD video shooting capabilities. Sony will also have DSLRs with HD video capture capabilities.
    6. Twitter will be bought over by a larger company.
    7. Facebook will become outdated in 2009.
    8. Google stock will NOT go above 500 points in 2009.
    9. Nokia will no longer release smartphones with T9 input [e.g.: most of the Nseries phones] after October 2009. It'll either be physical keyboards or touchscreen.
    10. 4G will be widely rolled-out in Singapore and Australia. [FYI: 4G does exist in Singapore. Singtel and Qmax has been doing WiMax trials.]
    11. Google Android will spread across the globe the same way iPhone did. Android phones in Singapore, Indonesia, and Australia by 2009.
    12. Apple Store - 2 more in Australia, 1 in Singapore, 1 in Jakarta, iPhone 3G in Indonesia on Telkomsel / XL.
    13. E-ink, OLED displays, and flexible displays are ... still not widely adopted.
    14. I will buy a new MacBook in '09.

    Tuesday 25 November 2008

    Welcome to Youtube

    ok, this song is just hilarious if you've been on the youtube scene... Warning: A little offensive, but still, it's hilarious...

    YouTube Live '08

    have you seen YouTube Live 08?

    Student Writes to Steve Jobs, Gets Free Final Cut Studio 2

    Sometimes Xmas comes earlier and when you less expect it: A Greenwich High School student wrote a letter directly to Mr. Jobs himself asking politely for an student discount on Final Cut Studio 2. Two weeks later, he got way more than he wanted, shipped directly from Cupertino.This is just insane. This guy, who can afford an octo-core Mac Pro, gets a free copy of FCS2 just by sending in an email and his mailing address! I'm stuck with a dying MacBook Pro, and here I am, crying for a copy. Oh well, at least this lucky dude's Christmas wish came true...hmm... should I try to email sjobs [at] apple [dot] com?

    read more | digg story

    Up, up, and away, before going down under.

    ok, Just a heads-up...

    I'll be gone from Dec 1 till Dec 11 for my school choir's trip to Europe. We'll be dropping by Amsterdam for a 5-hour transit, before heading to Budapest for 3 days, and then a transfer by coach to Bratislavia, Slovakia. We'll be in Bratislavia for 3-4 days, before going back to Budapest for 2-4 days again, then it's back to Singapore.

    After this trip, I'll probably stay in SG for a couple of days, before flying off to Jakarta to finally see my new home & the new room that comes with that. Apparently, I get a 32" 720p/1080i flat panel. Nice. Just need a 2.1 sound system to go along with that. Think harman kardon soundstick 2?

    I'll be cooping myself in Indonesia until Results Day, January 19 2008. [Note: one day before inauguration of Barack Obama as president.] In the meantime, I'll be submitting my application to go to University of New South Wales Foundation Programme and my Australian student visa. I'll be studying Accounting, just to clear that out of the way. After completing my Foundation year at UNSW, I'll probably be doing my Bachelor degree in Charles Sturt University [We'll see how things go at the end of next year. Otherwise, I'll be doing the degree at UNSW].

    My UNSWFY term should start in April, since I can speak, read, and write proper English. ya?

    Anyway, I'll be posting photos over the next few days. Watch this space. You're in for a surprise. If you're still not surprised at what I post, then at least act surprised.

    BTW, Phil Pringle's artworks are pretty cool, now that I see them.

    UPDATE:
    For the sender-off-ers:
    01DEC08
    KL838
    Changi Airport Terminal 1
    departs 2250
    but we're meeting at 2000

    Monday 24 November 2008

    sic[k]

    yeah, I forgot to add ERNEST to the list of names in my previous post.
    so, there. I even made it CAPS, large, and bold. totally the opposite of the real ernest.
    ok, nobody will get that.
    oh,

    yeah, i am ill.
    so, the title of the post is sic[k].
    ok, this post is dry.
    oh, realise something about this post?

    Saturday 22 November 2008

    19-23

    Finally, I can catch my breath and post something on my blog. Phew!

    I've been really really "busy" the past couple of days.

    Let's see, I last posted on Monday Evening, close to Tuesday Morning.

    On Wednesday, I worked for Ms Chua by helping to design with Kevin Chiam, the routanda and toilet in the school.

    After my 'job', I went to Expo for the opening night of Asia Conference!

    In fact, for the past 3 days, I have been going to Asia Conference. For the past 3 days, the night services end at 10.40pm [earliest]. As a result, I can only reach home at 1215am the next day, resulting in me being unable to post to my blog.

    Asia Conference has been great so far. The word that has been preached by the speakers have been an eye-opener and mind-blowing thus far. Really, I believe that this conference will be one of those that impacts people in a great way.

    The message ...
    of cultural mandate,
    of reaching out to the marketplace and the "3rd space" just as Paul was when he was in Athens,
    of knowing the Holy Spirit,
    of what the New Jerusalem may be like,

    these are just the beginning.

    Furthermore, there was great performances and musicians, such as Don Moen, CCC Oxford Falls, True Worshippers [yeah! Indonesians!], and of course, CHC band!

    Can't wait for the remaining two days...

    Oh, Matthew, Ian, Abraham, Theodore, Raymond, give me a while. I'm cutting the songs as we speak.

    Monday 17 November 2008

    me likes this new skin.

    People will always belong in between any of these 3 different camps when it comes to redesigns:
    1. They proclaim "Hallelujah, thank GOD this change was done!"
    2. They say "hmm... ok... it's neither good, nor bad. Really, it's nowhere."
    3. They curse like crazy and say "[insert delete-explicits] this redesign!"
    I felt that my blog's previous design has been way too long in the tooth. It was a Blogger template. A very generic, 30-second job. Well, for me, anyway. I'm sure Google and the guys at Blogger spent a lot of effort picking and choosing colours and templates before delivering the goods online. And to be honest, those designs that Google / Blogger have are quite nice. Very fast, easy, simple, quick, convenient, and it became much easier to add elements, like tagboards, polls, etc.

    However, I felt that I needed to be more original. I want to spend more time on the overall aesthetics of the web layout. I needed more flexibility.

    A year ago, I made the switch from a HTML/CSS-based layout to a very simple Google layout. I cited reasons such as the then-approaching 'O' Levels and my code-phobia [fact: till today, I still can't code HTML professionally. Need prove? check out the code for this blog here], especially since I had other things to cram in my head, other than HTML coding. This can be easily justified as a valid reason for me to NOT use HTML.

    However, seeing that the exams are over, and I still have the willingness to blog [in fact, it grew into a habit], I felt that a redesign back into HTML was apt.

    So, I do hope you will like / enjoy / appreciate / be able to tolerate this new design / layout.

    Of course, feel free to inform me of any bugs that I may not see outside Safari / Webkit & Firefox 3, the only browsers I use frequently.

    By the way, for now, this blog is certified to be functional and rendered correctly on WebKit browsers [that includes Chrome, Webkit, Safari, Mobile Safari for iPhone / iPod touch, and apparently, Nokia S60 Symbian browsers], Firefox [3 and later. May work with FF2], and Internet Explorer [best on 6 and 8 RC2. 7 may render certain things differently, but the experience shouldn't be too different].

    I do not know the Opera browser in my dictionary, so don't mention it to me. You should know better, Opera users.

    tag!

    >18k hits?!

    Views: 18,207
    no. of days: just 836 days, or 2 years + 106 days

    w00t!

    Sunday 16 November 2008

    Desert Song



    definitely one of my favourite hillsong / praise&worship songs. What's yours? comment! tag! post!

    Albums of the year - 2008

    Album Chart Round-up for 2008
    1.

    Viva La Vida
    by Coldplay

    2.
    The I Heart Revolution: With Hearts As One
    by Hillsong Untied

    3.
    Sleep Through The Static
    by Jack Johnson

    4.
    We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.
    by Jason Mraz

    5.
    Perfect Symmetry
    by Keane

    6.
    LenkaĀŖ
    by Lenka

    7.
    One Of The BoysĀŖ
    by Katy Perry

    8.
    Under The Radar
    by Daniel Powter

    9.
    We SatellitesĀŖ
    by Electrico

    10.
    808s & HeartbreakĀŖĀŗ
    by Kanye West


    ĀŖ - I do not have the album yet as of time of post.
    Āŗ - Album is not yet available for sale at time of post, but will be by the end of 2008.

    music chart of the week: 5*songs from my iTunes Library

    I thought of doing my music chart a little differently this time around. Since there hasn't been much that is new in the music scene, I thought I should just look through all the songs I added to my iTunes library in 2008 and pick songs that deserve my 5*s...
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Music worthy of the 5* rating...

    1.
    Life in Technicolor
    Coldplay
    Album: Viva La Vida

    2.
    Une Voix
    Les Petits Chanteurs De Saint-Marc
    Album:Nos RevĆŖs

    3.
    Saviour King
    Hillsong United
    Album: The I Heart Revolution: With Hearts As One

    4.
    The Heart Of Life
    John Mayer
    Album: Continuum

    5.
    I'm Yours
    Jason Mraz
    Album: We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things

    6.
    Soldier's Poem
    Muse
    Album: Black Holes & Revelations

    7.
    Miles Away
    Madonna
    Album: Hard Candy

    8.
    Shut Up and Let Me Go
    The Ting Tings
    Album: We Started Nothing

    9.
    Viva La Vida
    Coldplay
    Album: Viva La Vida

    10.
    Spiralling
    Keane
    Album: Perfect Symmetry

    11.
    Perfect Symmetry
    Keane
    Album: Perfect Symmetry
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Alright, there you go, 11 of the best of 2008.
    [well, the ones in my iTunes library, anyway.]

    Watch this space over the weeks leading up to 2009, as I start posting my new year's resolution for '09, my music summary for 2008, and my predictions for 2009. Oh, let's not forget to review my new year's resolution in late January 2009.

    The 'O's are over, but the blogging hasn't slowed down at all!

    This blog will live on!

    Saturday 15 November 2008

    what I wish for Christmas 08

    Let's see...

    1. A new MacBook
    the 2.4GHz Unibody 13" MacBook, so that I can carry it around when I get to Australia next year. Price: S$2588, or A$2549

    2. A new earphone
    The Apple In-ear Headphone, if not, a Shure or Bose or Audio-Technica. Budget: ≤S$129

    3. Hillsong "This Is Our God" 
    A Praise and Worship album to enjoy with my earphones. Why not?

    4. A new speaker that is actually isolated.
    So that I won't hear GSM signals coming from my speakers when I plug my iPhone in. Sorry, iM7, you make too much noise.

    5. A 1TB HDD or Drobo
    for my Time Machine and Aperture Vault

    Friday 14 November 2008

    Guitar <3

    Guitars are such fun...

    I went to the Biennale yesterday w/ the Art students + a few teachers & non-teaching staff. Strayed around the City Hall / Old High Court building. Then, Jasper, Kevin, Isaac and I went to Funan to eat. We then wandered around Raffles City, looking for stuff. Saw a few 4SB people, and a few more teachers.

    After all this, I met with Theodore Koh to buy guitar strings with him. Then, we made our way to my house, where I packed. I was going to stay over at Theodore's house, along with Abraham, Matthew Ho, and Ernest [although Raymond went along instead of Matthew, who went off to play pool after Grad Dinner and... well....]

    Jammed a bit after Grad Dinner. Learnt a few chords, did a few recordings, and even learnt a song! yay!

    Lacking sleep, but still have PA camp planning later. uploading the photos for Grad Dinner while I'm gone, so brb!

    Wednesday 12 November 2008

    This week in Science...

    The 'O' Level Science Papers [Paper 1 sections] are here, and gone.
    One paper left to go. [Bio]

    The Mars Phoenix Lander is dead.
    RIP, Mars Phoenix Lander.

    It's winter on Mars..

    Yes, I can't get over the Mars Phoenix thing.

    Tuesday 11 November 2008

    A farewell to a good friend in Science.

    On this day, we bid farewell and goodbye to a little baby. Born as a genius, it had a purpose and great destiny which began from the moment it was conceived.

    It was born on a planet not too far away from us on 25 May 2008, yet it continued to communicate with its scientific partners and fellow online pen-pals via twitter. This was in spite of the fact that it lacked the proper nourishment [it has an oven, but no light to gain energy], resulting in constant starvation, and hence the inability to communicate over such long distances. It suffered multiple deaths throughout its short life, but was fortunately able to resurrect itself when the climate permits.

    Of course, now, the winter is coming in, and with the little light that this rover is able to get, it does not seem to be able to survive.

    It was last heard from on November 2nd, 2008, and was never heard from since then. And as it heads for the winter, all it can do is to hunker down and remain where it is, unable to carry out any more science experiments. Chances of a successful revival after the winter is slim, so all we can really do now is to bid our last farewell to a partner in Science, Mars, and Discovery.

    The Mars Phoenix Lander|
    may you rest in your own warmth and peace.

    A message from Phoenix.

    Sunday 9 November 2008

    Agape?

    Agapella.

    Launch of Christmas Light-up @ Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza

    Sat, Nov 15, 6.30pm-9.00pm.

    Just spreading the word. [I can't go. I have church.]

    Friday 7 November 2008

    PIC - Is MC Escher Working for Google Maps?

    Photographic evidence seems to sure look like it.--Blogger from Digg

    read more | digg story

    Bush.


    US Elections are over...

    But Bush is still the leader of the free world, as far as the next 74 days seem to me. [Source: http://www.change.gov]

    So, in celebration of one wacky Texan's last less-than-100 days and counting, let's appreciate how Bush has been doing things his way. A way that has landed us in a deep pile of poodle-wax™.

    Oh, God, why was this man elected into the presidency, and not Gore? Because the Californians played God? Because you want Americans to care about the Elections and choose Gore? Because you want the Communists to be proud and overly-arrogant of their ways of life, and then let them cave themselves in before the Capitalists make a comeback, and then everyone is happy with Democracy? Or so that politics will cease to exist? Well, at least we had Bushisms while the fun lasted.

    oh how could I forget.

    I bought a guitar.

    It's acoustic.

    It's killing my fingertips. The ones on my left hand.

    But it's fun.

    SHOUTOUT: Thanks to Matthew Ho for helping me pick the guitar and how to play a few chords. Still learning. Give me time...

    ok. that's all for now. Back to Paper 1 Sciences + Pencil sharpness strategizing...

    Wednesday 5 November 2008

    Talk about the FINAL COUNTDOWN...


    Thanks to Mahalo Daily for the heads-up to this video.


    P.s.: I changed the Links section a little bit. Go figure!

    P.s.s.: Obama = President Elect, Biden = VP Elect! woot!

    Tuesday 4 November 2008

    feature


    feature, originally uploaded by dratz.

    it's not a bug, it's a feature.

    Monday 3 November 2008

    what's left of me...

    5NOV HCL1 1111/01
    5NOV HCL2 1111/02

    10NOV PHY1 5058/01
    12NOV CHEM1 5072/01
    13NOV BIO1 5094/01

    And that marks the end of exams in Singapore for me!

    No more assessments!

    Oh, by the way, got this in my email...
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    VOCAL MANIA, 10 NOVEMBER 08, SINGAPORE CONFERENCE HALL
    The A Cappella Society is happy to present Vocal Mania 2008, a choral cum a cappella concert to be held at the Singapore Conference Hall on the 10th of November, in support of presenting more performance opportunities to local choirs in larger venues and allowing them to explore a variety of acoustic settings and of course, to perform for a sizable audience.

    Perhaps your school choir may appreciate an evening outing to a concert that will showcase not only traditional choral works but also pop a cappella? We would definitely love to have you at the concert.

    This year, we present a range of established choirs in performance and they will present a host of songs from different musical genres. The stars of the evening are: St Andrew's Secondary School Choir, Christ Church Secondary School Choir, Ang Mo Kio Secondary School Choir, Pasir Ris Secondary School Choir, FajarCappella, TAS Youth Voices.


    Vocal Mania 2008

    10 November

    Singapore Conference Hall

    Tickets: $15 available from The A Cappella Society

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    ok, if you want to go, you can drop by the music room and also get tickets from Miss Gan / my choir juniors. erm, no, I'm not performing, but I thought I'ld pimp this out and get people going!

    Sunday 2 November 2008

    Review of New Year's Resolution 08 at a glance...

    Because there's just so many resolutions, I'm going to do a 'summary at a glance' now and see how well I've done...

    • I shall get 5 A1s for my O Level [not over yet]
    • I shall do badly for CA1, especially for Chemistry. [1 wrong]
    • I shall make more enemies than I have now in school. [yup]
    • I shall NOT make new friends in 2008. [wrong]
    • I shall join minimum 2 study groups gatherings in 2008 [The Tripartite Humanities study group and S.O.S. = yup]
    • I shall try to apply to go somewhere outside Singapore for my post-OLVL studies [trying, so yup]
    • I shall go to 4 different countries in 2008, even though it's my OLVL year [Singapore, Indonesia, China, Slovakia] [one more to go...]
    • I shall CONTINUE to blog during my OLVL study period! [doing so now]
    • I shall watch 2 NC-16 movies next year.[1 left, Juno watched]
    • I shall ace English Oral. [yup]
    • I shall survive choir performances. [morning assembly, Musical, etc.] [yup, except musical, but that was an exemption.]
    • I will make sure the other PA guys respect Melvin. [hmm...]. if that plan backfires, I willmake sure somebody else takes over. [hmm...]
    • I guess BenSee is getting pissed with me. That's gonna need a fix. [fixed, since he wasn't pissed]
    • For the first time in 10 years, I will go back to Indonesa to celebrate Chinese New Year with the family. [I did!]
    • I will eat a total of 3 pints of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream throughtout 2008.[2pint + 1 cone +1 cup down = 2.5 pints, 0.5 pints to go!]
    • I shall get my blog on the "Blog of Note" list! [not likely.]
    • and my photo [1 of] will be marked as an "Explore" Picture [even less likely]
    • I'm no longer buying anymore iPods. Nor iPhones. [heh]
    • I may buy a gaming console. think PSP... [nope]
    • I may get a Blu-Ray player to call my own... [no]
    • I shall make around300 250 posts in 08[exceeded 300, anyway.]
    • I will change the blog skin 3 times. [3 of 3]
    • I will not get the things I put on the wishlist [no. no. no. no. no. no. anymore 'no'?]
    • I will leave Singapore for the UK or US or AU by 2009. [AU]
    Total greens: 11
    Total reds / unlikely at all: 8
    Swing States [getting all mavericky]: 6
    Needed for majority: 13.
    total: 25

    So, let's see... I can:
    finish half a pint of Ben & Jerry's for Christmas,
    go for the choir trip to Hungary + Slovakia,
    get ≥5 A1s for 'O' Level,
    watch an NC-16 movie in the cinema,
    and I'm gold, with 15 resolutions considered a success!

    w00t!

    Saturday 1 November 2008

    a freaking haiku

    a freaking haiku,
    this i type onto my blog,
    just for you to read.

    it has been much fun,
    preparing for the exams,
    the major, big 'O'.

    through the ups and downs,
    countless papers and time spent,
    prepping for the 'O'.

    let us not forget,
    we're all in this together,
    toiling day by day.

    a decade ending,
    a new journey coming soon,
    where we separate.

    so let's end it well,
    let's end with a major bang,
    unforgettable.

    the end.

    Thursday 30 October 2008

    Heads up! Discount!

    http://www.mine.com.sg/train/mall/productdetail/4900

    Remember that $79 student price on Adobe CS3 Web Premium?

    Well, The guys at mine.com.sg have started pre-orders for students & MOE staff for CS4 Web Premium at $99.

    GoGoGo!

    Yes, Zexun. It's CS4.

    coming End November.

    UPDATE: btw, 14 days.........

    Wednesday 29 October 2008

    Windows 7, Microsoft's saviour.

    I never thought I'ld say this, but I kinda like the look of Windows 7 and how it's turning out in its current pre-beta release.

    Link 1: http://windows7news.com/2008/10/28/official-windows-7-m3-screenshots/
    Link 2: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081028-first-look-at-windows-7.html

    Why I like Windows 7...

    1. No more friggin sidebar!
    2. Look at that beautiful taskbar. It's so much smaller than the dock + top taskbar on my [still] favourite OS [hint: OS X]. Oh, by the way, it's customizable, which I'm a big fan of.
    3. Calculator is so much smarter now.
    4. Ribbon interface everywhere. I'm a big fan of the Ribbon, and now, WordPad, NotePad, and Paint has it.

    that's about it.

    Let's see how 7 turns out...

    Tuesday 28 October 2008

    Super random music chart.

    You'll see some older songs in this list, and some that may not have appeared on current music charts [i.e.: very new]. But trust me, this selection is not too shabby.

    Just to be nice to you guys, I'll start off with a newbie.
    1. Keane - Better Than This
    2. John Mayer - My So Called Life
    3. Daniel Powter - My So Called Life
    4. Erin McCarley - Pony (It's OK)
    5. Lenka - The Show
    6. Keane - Spiralling
    7. MariƩ Digby - Stupid for You
    8. Jason Mraz - Love For A Child
    9. Daniel Powter - Not Coming Back
    10. The Ting Tings - Shut Up and Let Me Go
    11. Keane - Pretend That You're Alone Now
    12. Jason Mraz - Details In The Fabric
    13. Jason Mraz - I'm Yours
    14. Charlotte Sometimes - How I Could Just Kill A Man
    15. Lykke Li - I'm Good, I'm Gone

    Yes, I just bought John Mayer's "Continuum". It's a great album. Perhaps I'm not used to Blues, and I normally don't associate myself with Blues, but John Mayer's enjoyable... Maybe it's an 'Apple cult' thing...

    And about Keane's album, I have to say, Keane's going in a new direction from "Under The Iron Sea". Much like Avril Lavigne went from matured to punk in "Best Damn Thing" from her previous album, Keane went from guitar + keyboard to a little bit of techno / punk / electronica. A LITTLE BIT of EACH. It's not completely bad, but I was just not expecting Keane to go in this direction. Then again, their first album was so ballad, their second more modern, their third just electronica-ish. What's next for Keane? Can't wait. But now, let me sink in to the music while I revise for my exams.

    Oh, speaking of exams, wishing all the O Levelers and A Levelers all the best [belated, current, and in advanced]. Also wanna wish a speedy full recovery to Jon Phang, who apparently just had a surgery over the Deepavali weekend. Saw him in school just now for the History paper, but he was not with the rest in the exam hall. Hope he still has enough time for the revisions.

    Kinda sucks having to cope with some surgery aftermath in the midst of a major exams.

    And I thought my Triple 2008 Birthday Whammy was bad. The first whammy was my birthday itself, which was a little unpleasant. The second was the Common Test, which I didn't do very well for. The third was my eosophagusitis-like disease, which caused me to take 3 MCs -the first and last in the last 4 years in SASS. The illness lasted a few days, and I still went to school for tests in the midst of the wheezing and nose leaking. Yeah, well, glad that's over.

    Outlook for the rest of the year: CHC Arise and Build Campaign, Grad dinner, Pa Camp, Bratislavia, Fly to Indonesia, Prepare for Australia by March, Collect Results for 'O's in January, Canceling my Student Pass officially.

    Reflecting upon the last 10 years in Singapore, I must say, I really sacrifices a lot of time away from my family [time which I could have gotten had I not been involved in any CCAs or competitions or overseas trips]. My parents probably aren't happy that I'm not with them, going on the various family trips overseas / missing out on major family events.

    Just to name a few:
    My Second bro's graduation,
    My 2 nephews' birth,
    my eldest aunt's funeral,
    the family's countless trip to Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, Australia, France, China
    my family's recent move to a new house,
    my new personal room [currently empty].
    my family's christmas gift exchange [cancelled last year due to my later-than-usual arrival into Indonesia. Choir Concert.]
    9 of 10 Chinese New Year Celebrations.
    6.5 of 10 of my birthdays went uncelebrated.
    all of my family's birthdays in the past 10 years, except 2 of my dad's birthdays.

    Well, regrets will be regrets. Can't change any thing that I have missed. Time to move on and work on NOT extending that list of regrets.

    It's time for a fresh new start. I am intending, with God as my guide, to move to Sydney, NSW, Australia to study Accountancy.